The Fury
by GerdavR
Summary: Jaesa challenges Vette to go on a date with Quinn (of all people)! Unbetaed... SPOILERS AHEAD!
1. Chapter 1

**The Fury**

It was a very, very slow day on the _Fury_. The Wrath, Darth Solange, was attending a Dark Council meeting. As usual she had only taken Broonmark with her. Vette and Jaesa were sitting on the couch next to the holocommunicator, while Quinn was working in the cockpit. Pierce was in the cargo room and cleaned his weapons.

"I'm soooo booored!" exclaimed Vette and yawned. "Why didn't she take me to this meeting?"

Jaesa smiled. "Perhaps because she likes her fluffy bodyguard and because a room full of grumpy Sith and a mouthy Twi'lek are a bad combination?"

Vette laughed a little and looked at the former Jedi. Jaesa had become a very good friend to her, they were roughly the same age and the Twi'lek discovered that she was really funny when she wasn't in her Sith-persona.

"Ah, always these slur! Poor me! I… I… think something broke inside me!" mocked Vette.

"But you're right – it's really boring… we don't even have a goal anymore after Baras was defeated. Do you think that the Council will give Solange finally another assignment?"

"I sure hope so! If we don't get some action soon I will go crazy and do CRAZY THINGS! AAAAHHHH!"

Upon her scream Pierce as well as Quinn raced into the room.

"Who would've thought that a wee girl could make such a noise?" asked Pierce and threw jokingly a towel he usually used to clean his gun at her. Vette ducked skilfully and threw the towel back right into the Lieutenant' face. From the corner of her eye Vette saw that Quinn had a disapproving look on his face, but instead of scolding them for their behaviour he simply returned to the cockpit.

"Hey, that's no fun if Quinn doesn't do his uptight routine!" complained Vette. She enjoyed to ridicule the Captain for his stiff disposition, he got always angry while trying (in futile) to reason with her.

"If he knows what's good for him, he will keep his trap shut!" said Pierce while picking up the towel. "I never understood why Solange let him stay on; I would've killed him back on that station. Quinn has betrayed us!"

"Come on," interjected Jaesa, "he is useful. And it has been almost two months since that incident. We should go easy on him."

"Never!" replied Vette and Pierce in unison. They were both surprised and Jaesa laughed at their surprised looks.

"I'll leave before that happens again," murmured Pierce and left.

Two hours later Vette and Jaesa had played the sixth round of pazaak in the mess hall.

"Damn it, how long is this meeting gonna take? Solange should be back by now! Your turn, Jaesa."

"Nah, I don't like this game – you always win. But what about another game we used to play in the Jedi academy?" Vette hesitated; Jaesa had a strange glint in her eye. But her bold nature won over her caution.

"A Jedi game? Bring it on!"

"All right, we will pose each other challenges to 'develop our personalities' as the Jedi called it. It should be something doable and yet something we couldn't accomplish in a day."

Vette smiled and became exited. "What are the limits?"

Jaesa smiled back and leaned towards her friend. "There are no limits! We could challenge each other with something that will take a few days, a Jedi Master challenged me to levitate a rock once. It took me almost a week to lift that damned thing. But I'm sure we will come up with something more fun than that!"

"Oh yes!" Vette was now positively exhilarated. "Let's meet up in an hour and pose each other a challenge!"

The Twi'lek wandered through the _Fury_ and tried to think up a challenge for Jaesa. It had to be something she could do on board of the ship, just in case they had to leave Dromund Kaas because Solange got _finally_ some work to do. Speaking of Solange… her private quarters were as dull and dark as any Sith chamber… if someone were to decorate the Darth's room in a more blithely way… YES! Vette sniggered at the prospect of having Solange going into her room and starting to scream because Jaesa had swapped her dark relics with flowers. And since Jaesa had to replicate everything and try to sneak into Solange's room it would at least take a few days before she could complete this assignment.

With a broad smile she returned to the mass hall and found Jaesa already waiting for her. The former Jedi had an equally broad grin on her face, Vette was already curious what her challenge would be. Perhaps she had to teach Pierce how to pronounce more clearly? Or programme Tovee with rude comments to greet them when they return from a mission?

"Are you ready?" asked Vette still smiling. Jaesa nodded and started to laugh as she heard her challenge.

"Oh, that's going to be such fun! Solange will positively be shocked!"

"Yeah, imagine the look on her face as she sees suddenly pink ribbons instead of black daggers hanging on her walls! But quick – tell me my challenge!"

"Very well, I challenge you to go on a date with Quinn."

Vette let the words sink in, her smile disappeared. "What?"

"Convince him to go on a date with you – or is the challenge to though for the best-looking Twi'lek… eh, on this ship?"

"You said something doable! How on earth can I convince Capt'n Obdurate and Oblivious to do something like this?" Vette gave Jaesa a loop-sided grin. "And btw I'm not only the best-looking Twi'lek on this ship, but also in the whole sector!"

"Are you up to the challenge or do admit your defeat?"

"Right on! I'll charm Quinn in a way that not even Capt'n Cold can withstand!" boasted Vette and raised a fist in the air to underline her resolve.


	2. Chapter 2

Ten minutes later Vette stood in front of the cockpit door. Okay, you can do this, just be friendly and talk about stuff he likes. Hmmm, but what does he like besides the imperial navy and rules? She decided to rely on her conversational skills to coax the reserved Captain out and entered. Quinn was sitting in the pilot's seat and was reading a data pad. He was visibly surprised to see her and stood up. "Vette, what can I do for you?" Quinn asked in a pressed voice.

Oh boy, he doesn't even like me, but she put a smile on and said: "It's not what you can do for me Capt'n Crunchy, it's about what I can do for you." Ok, I should stop calling him names – although it is so funny – otherwise I won't ever get that… date, she thought before continuing. "I mean I just wanted to ask you how you're doing?" For the next sentence she dropped her usual blithely intonation and tried to sound serious. "You must be lonely, I mean, after the transponder station… well, you get my meaning."

Quinn stared at her. "If you're referring to my betrayal and the fact that my authority has been undermined…"

Vette nudged him, despite his disapproving look. "I'm not talking about your authority, I'm talking about you. Since then nobody talks to you, I guess that must be hard."

"What do you care? Since the day I've set foot on the _Fury_ we've constantly been on each other's throats, and your impertinence has…" The Captain sighted. "No matter. I'm fine, no need to… worry." Quinn said the last word hesitantly and Vette could not help overhearing a certain weariness in his voice.

Ah, he _is_ lonely, that should make my challenge easier, Vette mused. Time for a little touchy-feeling! She stepped closer to Quinn and put her hand on his shoulder. The expression on his face was priceless: utter amazement and for a moment his usual professional stone face slipped and revealed actual emotion on his face. It showed surprise, anger and lastly sadness. Vette felt a bang of guilt, but she discarded it quickly, it was Quinn after all – Capt'n Stuffy himself, for the love of the Emperor!

"Is that some sort of game?" asked Quinn, visibly confused.

Crap, he sees right through me! "No, of course not. What kind of game would that be? Who dares to touch the untouchable Captain?" No need to lay on too heavy, perhaps I can talk later more. "I just wanted to make sure that you're alright – but I will disturb you no longer."

Vette left the cockpit and went to the computer terminal in the crew quarters. She pulled up Quinn file from the imperial network and started reading.

A few hours later Vette had finished reading Quinn's personnel file. By the stars! For being a rigid bore he had a rather large file, but her labour had already paid off – she had read about the Battle of Druckenwell and how Moff Broysc had court-martialled Quinn. Vette had pestered the Captain for week because she wanted to know who this Broysc was since she heard that he had killed the Moff with approval from Solange – damn, if she had known that all it took was to slice into the imperial network and pull this file. But how should she use this knowledge? Before Vette could make further plans Darth Solange called her crew of the intercom to the conference room.

As soon as they all were gathered in the conference room Darth Solange started the briefing: "The Dark Council wishes that I oversee the invasion of Makeb. We want the Isotope-5 that's only available on certain mesas on this planet." Vette watched how her boss paced back and forth, the tall pure-blooded Sith wore a bulky black armour who concealed her slender figure. The Twi'lek turned her head towards Pierce, it was no secret that he had been visiting the Sith in the night and even if she didn't knew that, his constant glare towards Solange's ass was a dead giveaway that he was interested in her. Solange displayed a holopicture of the Makeb. "The Imperial Reclamation Service has informed the Dark Council that the planets destruction is immanent, apparently the Hutts have drilled too fast into the Isotope-5 near the planets core. While I take charge of the whole operation I want to split you up in two man teams to take readings in different spots on the planet."

Quinn spoke up: "Wouldn't we be faster with our task if we would go alone?"

Solange turned towards him and shook her head. "No, the entire planet is a warzone, republic forces are already on the surface. The risk is too great."

Vette realised that this scans and readings were the perfect opportunity to get closer to Quinn, and before Solange could speak on she yelled: "I'm with Capt'n Accuracy!"

Everybody started at her, even Solange was baffled: "What the… alright, Broonmark take Tovee with you. Jaesa, you're with Pierce." They answered with "Yes, my Lord!" and shortly after Solange dismissed them. Vette caught how Quinn looked at her with a quizzical expression on his face before he disappeared into the cockpit to plot a course to Makeb.

Solange stepped to Vette and asked: "Vette, what is this about?"

"Nothing! Why is everybody suspecting me? Poor me..."

"You hate Quinn, why would you team up with him?"

Vette was a little taken aback by the word "hate", did she come across like she hated the man? She was just making fun of him. "That's not true, I don't hate him – he hates me!"

"Before his betrayal I requested that Quinn would submit mission reports and assess the entire team's performance – he always gave you a glowing review. He doesn't hate you, Quinn just can't stand your mockery and I quote 'Vette is a great asset in every battle, although her performance suffers regularly from her poor discipline and her constant, enervating blabbering'."

Vette was a second time surprised. "Really? I didn't know that – not that part about my blabbering of course but the other, the nice one."

"You averted the question, Vette. Why do you suddenly want to team up with Quinn?"

"Because nobody else wants to team up with him, you should have seen how sad he looked…"

"Well, Quinn should've thought about that before he betrayed my trust!" snapped Solange, but she calmed down immediately. "I'm sorry, Vette, it's just… I'm a Sith and I know for a fact that everybody will betray me if the price is right. But Quinn, he… you can't imagine (neither can I myself) how deeply it hurt me that he tried to kill me."

Solange fell silent and Vette felt that guilty again. Should I tell her that the reason that I team up with Quinn is a challenge? Her boss had obviously feelings for the Captain. Nah, she's happy with Pierce! Besides, Capt'n Fancypants deserves a little deception at his expense!

Solange spoke so softly that Vette almost didn't hear her: "Perhaps it's time that someone reaches out to him. We… He has suffered enough."

Before the Twi'lek could reply Solange had already stormed away. Vette was puzzled. Wait, did Solange and Quinn… no, I don't think so! She thought a little longer on the subject and decided finally to ignore the implications.

Three days later Vette and Quinn stood together on the Frinn mesa. The Twi'lek was enjoying the sights while the Human was screaming at a flickering hologram in his palm. "No! Sergeant… Pick us up in two… TWO HOURS!" Suddenly the holographic picture vanished. Quinn rubbed his temples. "Damn it, the electromagnetic interference cut the signal!"

"No problem, if he doesn't turn up in two hours we'll simply have a little vacation!" beamed Vette and gestured towards the beautiful sights.

"I would lecture you on our timetable, but I'm quite sure you're aware of that." Quinn put his holocommunicator in his bag and started to walk the narrow path towards the peak of the mesa.

"I'm still better company than Pierce, aren't I? He would probably challenge you to a race to the peak just for the heck of it and then question your manhood for declining such a 'wee sprint'." Vette managed to imitate Pierce's accent quite well and to her surprise she heard Quinn laugh. Huh, what about that, Capt'n Dire just laughed!

"Hey, I saw that! You actually laughed at one of my jokes!"

"No, I didn't," replied Quinn surprisingly playful before snapping back into his usual rigid speech pattern. "Lieutenant Pierce would probably do just that."

"You should do that more often," said Vette quietly and hoped that her low-key approach would have the desired impact and indeed it did: Quinn stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face her.

"Beg your pardon?"

"Nothing… It's just that I think you should loosen up," Vette started and mentally prepared herself for the coming bit of flattery, "I think you should laugh more… (you have a beautiful laugh)." She almost muttered the last bit under her breath and was surprised as she felt how her face grew hot. By the stars, she actually felt bashful!

Quinn just stared at her, visibly trying to find some kind of hidden joke. Vette realised that the last bit was a little too much and decided to enforce her compliment. "Hey, I mean it – you're too wound up…"

"Stop it!" yelled Quinn. "Don't mock me! And here I thought that…" He broke off and continued to walk.

"You thought right, I'm your friend. I mean well." Vette said, following Quinn up the path.

Quinn didn't turn around as he answered: "You're not my friend, Vette. You ridicule me at every possible opportunity. You don't respect me or my expertise and certainly not my person. I admit that it's partly my fault, I made an error in judgement back then, but that doesn't give you the right to constantly wear me down."

Vette was taken aback, she had never thought that her jabbing would actually braze Quinn deeply enough so that he would feel that it wore him down. Come to think of it, Solange did actually think that I hated the Captain, is my mockery so malignant? "I'm sorry, I didn't realise that my jokes come across as vicious." She meant it, Vette was a jester, but she never wanted others to feel bad. "I thought we were bantering, like friends you know."

Quinn stopped once again and turned around and approached her until their faces were but centimetres away and hissed: "A friendly banter? All these times you whispered insolences in Solange's ears while I was briefing our team about how boring I am just because I was professional! Every time you debased me by using derogatory names like 'Capt'n Tedious'? You just thought that was friendly banter? Are you serious?"

"Calm down! I was only joking to ease up the tension! Listen, we are risking our lives on daily basis, of course I have to lighten up the mood. Plus, I always thought that you were made out of ice or something – you never let on that it is bothering you so much." Vette took a step back, she appreciated her personal space.

Quinn struggled to regain his composure and finally shrugged his head. "Let's get back on the task at hand." With that they walked on.

While they were walking onward to the top of the mesa Vette mused about Quinn's words, she had to admit that her jokes about Quinn had increased since Pierce had joined them. She had always been a sucker for audience and the Lieutenant was always happy to hear slurs about the Captain who constantly berated him for his so-called unprofessional behaviour. Perhaps she had been out of line at least for a few comments, but Vette was still a little surprised that her sometimes childish blabbering was getting to the stoic Captain.

Strange that he didn't say anything about Pierce, I'm mocking him, sure, but the LT is also making fun of him. Hm, wait a moment! Quinn's writing 'glowing reports' about me and is upset when I make jokes about him… He doesn't care about Pierce, but I'm another story… Vette literally felt like some gears clicked in her head as she reached a conclusion: By the Stars! Capt'n Cold likes me! That's kind of creepy… and sweet… Due to this realisation she decided that she wouldn't pursue the challenge anymore. Vette had only accepted because she the vision of her and Quinn (of all people) on a date amused her – that and the fact that she didn't wanted to chicken out. But if there was a slight chance that Quinn actually liked her she couldn't go through with it. I mean, he isn't the nicest man I've ever met, Vette mused, but not even Capt'n Spotless deserves to be deceived in _that_ manner… Come to think of it, it is indeed rather flattering that a guy like Quinn was even inclined to be interested in me. She watched his back and for a short moment she was actually tempted as she thought of his attractive features, blue eyes which made a nice contrast to his black hair – she dropped her sight – and his nice butt. "Ah crap!" she said loud when she caught herself thinking about Capt'n Protocol in that way.

Quinn turned around, and she thought that she saw concern in his eyes. "What's the matter?" His voice was devoid of his previous anger.

"Nothing, I just realised that need more sex." Vette sighted and rubbed her temples.

"Why do I even ask?" said Quinn and resumed his march.

"These were the last readings," remarked Quinn and looked at his chronometer. "Our transport should arrive in about half an hour – at least if the Sergeant understood a word I said."

Vette stretched and yawned. "Finally, I thought we were never going to finish these scans!" She saw from the corner of her eye how Quinn went on his knees to examine a red plant. He took out his data pad and seemed to compare his notes with the plant. Curiously she drew nearer. "What's up, Capt'n?"

"It's fascinating, I'm just observing…" he trailed off. "Doesn't matter, nothing important."

"Well? Don't leave me hanging!"

"I won't lecture you about biology," Quinn said with a weary voice, "you don't like being lectured."

"Is it again about my jokes? What do you want? I can't stop the way I am."

"I know, I don't expect you to change. I'm sorry that I brought it up in a moment of weakness." Quinn took a picture of the red plant and cut off a leaf and put it in his bag.

Vette struggled whether she should pursue their discussion from earlier or not. But after a few moments of consideration she decided that it bugged her too much to let it go.

"Quinn? About what you said… do you really think that I'm your enemy?" The Twi'lek sat down on a stone near the Captain, who was still kneeling.

Perhaps it was her timid tone or the calm environment, but to her surprise her companion sighted and answered:

"No, of course not. You're not my enemy, I merely wanted to express my regret that you don't respect me." Quinn stretched his legs and sat on a stone next to Vette.

"I do respect you, heck, I even consider you a friend! I can't even count how many times you patched me up during our missions or made plans on how to defeats Solange's enemies. But I dislike authority figures – save Solange of course – because they make me feel small. Authority makes me want to put people back in their places!"

"You said it again, you said that you're my friend. But allow me this question: Where were you the past months when I needed somebody to talk? Why didn't you yell at me and ask me about the reasons for my betrayal?" Quinn seemed to get angry again.

Anger welled up inside Vette as well – what the fuck? He sold out to Baras! But suddenly as she looked at him she read something else in his face: guilt and remorse. Vette realised that Quinn didn't want to justify his actions, no, he wanted somebody to talk about what had happened. Instead of replying the Twi'lek got on her feet, walked to Quinn and hugged him. At first she felt how he tensed up, but after a few seconds he returned the hug. He even buried his face in her shoulder. After a minute Quinn let go of her. Vette sat down on her stone.

"So, why did you do it? Why did you betray Solange?"

"Because I'm an idiot."

"Hmm, yes, sometimes you are an idiot – but hey, who isn't?"

"Darth Baras saved my career once, the navy is the most important thing in my life and it was almost taken from me. And I was scared that I would lose it altogether."

Vette shortly debated with herself if she should disclose that she knew about Druckenwell, only to decided that it was better to be honest. "I read you file, I know about the Battle of Druckenwell and the reason why you hated Broysc."

Quinn turned his head in a sharp movement towards her, he wasn't pleased. "I assume you sliced into the imperial personnel records?"

Vette nodded and continued: "I understand that it was bitter to see your career going down, but how could you betray Solange? After all these missions I thought that we formed a bond."

"We did, and Baras used it against me. He contacted me after Belsavis and ordered me to kill Solange. I refused at first, but he somehow convinced me that should he reveal my true role as his spy to Solange she would dismiss me and end my career with that as well… as well as our companionship. I was afraid that I would lose everything and I made a choice to salvage from my life what was possible."

"He convinced you 'somehow'? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that I can't remember our conversation, I thought about it a lot and concluded that he force-persuaded me to forget my scruples, preying on my fears. I don't mean to deny my responsibility, but it's the only explanation I came up with."

Vette thought about it a moment. "Well, I always thought that it wasn't like you to do something like that. You're a soldier and I've seen you kill people in cold blood – but there was always logic dictating your actions. But there was no logic in trying to kill Solange, Baras was clearly only a selfish asshole while our boss did actually act only in the best interest of the Empire."

"In the end it doesn't matter, Baras couldn't persuade me out of the blue, he used my doubts one way or the other to lead me on. I did what I did and I lost your trust."

Vette couldn't contradict the last statement and therefore she remained silent for short time before replying. "Yeah, everything went to shit, didn't it?"

"Indeed."

A humming sound made them look up to the sky, a small shuttle was approaching them.

"It seems that you message came through after all," said Vette and rose to her feet.

"A pity, I really enjoyed talking to you, Vette." Quinn looked at her, his face expressed gratitude. Vette almost cringed under the gaze, without the challenge she would never have taken the time to understand the man and it disturbed her that she had been so unfeeling to somebody so close to her.

"Don't say that, Capt'n, soon enough I will drive you crazy with my constant blabbering."


	3. Chapter 3

When they met up with the others on the imperial base on the imperial controlled Landing Hook Seven, Vette gestured Jaesa to follow her in a quiet corner.

"Listen, I won't continue with the challenge," the Twi'lek began, "I had a talk with him and… well it seems very cruel to deceive him in that fashion."

Jaesa was obviously surprised, she looked at Vette and asked: "Are you serious? Come on, it's just a game, it will be fun…"

Vette shook her head. "I can't do it, Quinn is suffering, Jaesa. He is lonely and actually enjoyed talking to me, he said so himself. Imagine that! Capt'n Stuffy said that he liked talking to the insufferable mouthy Twi'lek! If he found out that I just followed a challenge he would be devastated." She omitted her suspicion that Quinn was interested in her, Vette thought that was a private matter.

The former Jedi slowly nodded. "I see, you're right of course. Strange, I hadn't thought about his feelings when I posed the challenge. Let me correct that." She closed her eyes and had a concentrated look in her face.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"I'm reaching out through the force and see for myself. I never searched his feeling, Quinn just seemed too boring… wait… yes, there he is."

Vette was unsure how to react to Jaesa's attempt to understand Quinn. By the stars! I've grown protective of him! Well, I've discovered that there is a human being under his icy exterior… She looked around the corner and saw Quinn standing in front of a computerstation, he was tipping something into the machine, next to him stood Pierce doing the same thing. Suddenly he started to rub his temples, visibly uneasy.

"Stop it Jaesa, he feels that somebody is in his head!"

"Almost there, yes, there is a lot of self-hatred and guilt. You're right, he is lonely and almost desperate. But there is one part in his mind that's brighter… it's the imperial navy, and… us. What the…"

"I said stop it!" said Vette urgently. Quinn looked now paler than usual. But before Jaesa could reply or even react he simply lost consciousness and fell hard on the floor.

Pierce reacted quickly, he took a knee next to the Captain and felt his pulse. Vette rushed towards them.

"His pulse is through the roof," murmured Pierce in his typical growl. "Medic!"

Within seconds two soldier with a stretcher carried Quinn to the medical station. Vette, Jaesa and Pierce followed them. They stood next to the bedside while a medic scanned the man lying on the bed. To their surprise mere moments later Solange appeared in the room. At first sight she seemed calm, but the way she stared at Quinn let on that she was at least worried.

"Wow, you're quick," remarked Vette, "how did you know that something happened?"

"I'm keeping tabs on each of you, we've formed a bond through the force and I could feel that something was awry," answered the Sith frowning.

"Master, I'm sorry," whispered Jaesa so quietly that they hardly heard her. "I had a look at his mind and then he suddenly collapsed. I think I caused this."

"Strange, a simple mind probing shouldn't cause this. Was it hard to get into his mind? Did you have to push your way through?" asked Solange, her frown deepening.

"Why… yes, I had to concentrate real hard and just after I got through he went down. What does it mean, Ma… my Lord?"

"It means that somebody put a force blockade in his head! Damn him! FUCK!" she yelled so loud that even Pierce flinched.

"What's the matter, m'Lord?" he asked.

"There is a high probability that Baras messed with his head and put a blockade in there to prevent that anybody would discover what he had done. I assume he wanted to make sure that neither Jaesa or myself would learn of Quinn's assassination attempt."

"Baras? Are you sure?" asked Pierce, suddenly agitated.

"He told me today that he couldn't remember his conversation with Baras when he decided to betray us," said Vette with a firm voice. "Quinn suspected that he had force-persuaded him, but he wasn't sure."

"What?" Solange moved right in front of Vette. "Why on earth wouldn't he tell me if he was coerced into trying to kill me?"

"Who would've believed him? Quinn theorised that Baras worked with doubts that were already there, it's his own responsibility that he did what he did."

Solange groaned. "For the love of the Emperor, non-force users shouldn't theorise about the force! With the force everything is possible! Baras was a skilled mindfucker, he wouldn't need premade doubts to make somebody do something!"

Pierce narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure? You almost choked Quinn to death, we almost kicked the living daylights out of him when you told us what had happened. Never in all that time you felt that the old geezer was pulling Quinn's strings?"

"There is only one way to find out," said Solange. She went to the bedside and shoved the medic out of the way. The Sith clasped her hands together and entered a trance.

Vette watched her boss and hoped desperately that the Sith would find traces of Baras messing with Quinn's head. At the same time she was conflicted about the outcome, should Solange confirm that the Captain was indeed force-persuaded to do the deed it would cast a rather large shadow on their little group. All this time I was talking about my newfound 'family' and at the first sign of trouble in the paradise we chose to drop Quinn without even considering that something was wrong. Damn it, even from beyond his grave Baras managed to make her miserable! She averted her gaze from the bedside and stared at her feet. Just because Quinn was a sometimes a jerk and a pedant we abandoned him despite all these times when we saved each other's asses. Countless times their medic had saved their lives, she particularly remembered how he even 'saved' her back on Nar Shaddaa. It was an occurrence she had almost forgotten or rather chose to let fade away.

_Shortly after Quinn had joined Solange they had been called to Nar Shaddaa to help out imperial troops in Shadow Town. First she didn't like the prospect of having another companion, she and Solange were a fine team and the rigid way Quinn conducted his business made her feel like he was a foreign body. So naturally she didn't listen to him when he cautioned her against wandering off in the imperial prison where Solange was interrogating a captured Jedi. Vette became soon bored after watching Solange for seemingly endless hours staring at the Jedi, fighting some kind of mental battle and decided to go for a walk. Quinn was reading a data pad and didn't seem to notice that she left. Vette strolled through the cell block for a few minutes._

"_What do we have here? An escaped prisoner?" said suddenly a voice behind her. Vette turned around and saw two imperial guards._

"_If I were a prisoner trying to escape, do you really think that I would lazily stroll down the corridor?" mocked Vette. "I'm with a Sith Lord, guys, so beat it."_

"_Mind you tongue, alien filth!" said the taller of the guards dangerously low. "There are many cells here, you would disappear and nobody would ever hear of you again."_

_Vette got a little scared, they were right and she had to admit that she had lost her orientation amidst all these same-looking cell blocks. But there was no way that she should bow down to these idiots. "You can try, sweetie, but you will regret it!"_

"_Indeed you will," sounded another voice behind her. Quinn had appeared out of nowhere. The guards remained quiet and turned to leave. Vette thought that the matter was solved, but Quinn stepped forward and yelled: "You haven't been dismissed!" _

_The guards snapped at attention and replied: "Sir!"_

"_Apologise to Vette," he ordered to her utter surprise. Vette was used to racial slur and didn't think that anybody would give a wombrat's ass about it. But obviously Quinn wasn't ready to let it slide. _

"_Please accept our sincerest apologies, Ma'am," said one of the guard through gritted teeth._

"_I forgive you," said Vette in the most condescending way possible._

"_Dismissed!" said Quinn and the two guards disappeared as quickly as possible._

_Vette beamed at the Captain. "Thanks, Captain! That was satisfying!"_

_Quinn denoted a bow and replied: "Don't mention it."_

_They returned to the lounge and resumed the waiting. Quinn picked up his data pad and read on, while Vette observed him. She knew that the guards wouldn't possibly been able to actually make her disappear, at least not completely, and while the situation was an iteration of many other occurrences she noted a stark difference: This time somebody had insisted on her dignity as a sentient being. Strange that it had to be a stiff, boring imperial prick that had done something so… elemental for her. But Quinn's strict and aggravating behaviour in the following weeks caused her to see this act as a coincidence with no consequence._

She lifted her gaze again to watch if Solange was still meditating. What she saw now shocked her: Vette had seen Undead raised from their graves, large Sandmonsters, unbelievable fights between Jedi and Sith and yet nothing disturbed her more to see Darth Solange weep. Nobody said a word, the Sith hastily wiped her eyes and returned to her companions.

"Quinn had a force block in his mind, I guess it was Baras but it's impossible to be sure," she said with an even voice, nothing betrayed her inner upheaval. "I lifted it, we have to wait for Quinn to wake up before we can investigate further."

"Are you sure you can wait, love?" asked Pierce with a low voice and caressed Solange's cheek with his right hand. "We have to know…"

Solange nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. "Medic!" she shouted. "Medic! Use some adrenals, wake this man up this instant!"

The imperial doctor blanched and immediately prepared a syringe, in a matter of seconds Quinn opened his eyes, groaning. Vette touched his hand slightly and said in her usual cheery way: "Wakey-wakey, Capt'n, time to shine!"

Quinn was visibly confused to see the whole crew standing around him. "My Lord? What happened? Why am I in the medical bay?"

Solange pushed Vette away and looked Quinn straight in the eye. "Do you remember what transpired when Baras ordered you to kill me?"

"I… I do! My memory was hazy before, but I remember now!" Quinn sat up, he was exited in a way Vette had never seen before. The impeccable Captain seemed nervous and unsure and yet there was something like happiness about him. "Darth Baras contacted me and ordered me to kill you. And I… I refused and then he simply gestured with his right hand… and suddenly I felt like it was the right thing to kill Darth Solange. After our conversation I had a realised that I've lost about two hours in a conversation that only took about 10 minutes."

Solange stared at him, then she started shouting: "You moron! Why didn't you tell me that you suspected that you've been manipulated? I almost killed you… I… you made us miserable!"

Quinn let her anger wash over him and replied in a weary manner: "Who would've believed such a convenient story? And I knew that there had to be something for Baras to work with – I was weak!"

Solange put her hand on Quinn's shoulder and squeezed it. "Quinn, you didn't punish yourself, you punished me with your silence. Your alleged betrayal antagonised me in ways I never thought possible."

"I'm sorry, for everything," said Quinn, his voice was thick with tears. "I failed you, my Lord."

"Shut your damn trap, Captain!" snarled Pierce. "You failed us all – because you were rather wallowing in self-pity than telling us the truth! For fuck's sake, I almost stomped you to death!"

"Yeah right, LT, you would've believed him, wouldn't you? By the stars, you beat him almost senseless the minute Quinn returned from the transponder station," snapped Vette.

Pierce yelled something about Solange's honour and Vette replied in kind, they only fell silent when they saw how Jaesa approached Quinn and gave him a light kiss on his right cheek. "Welcome back, Malavai."

An awkward silence fell on them. Nobody knew how to proceed from this point on. Quinn's professionalism saved them from the embarrassing calmness when he smoothed his uniform and stated in his usual clear voice: "I will return to my duties, my Lord. We still haven't uploaded all the gathered data."

"Yay, Capn't Quinn to the rescue," beamed Vette and hugged him with all her might. "Please don't look at me with this grateful look in your eyes, I already miss the reprimanding one."

Instead of getting angry or distant Quinn smilingly replied: "You will get that soon enough, Vette."

"Don't think I'm letting you do all the work," growled Pierce, "you would hog all the glory of datastreaming for yerself!"

A week later they had stabilised Makeb and Darth Solange was hailed for her exemplary work for the Empire. On their journey to Dromund Kaas, where Solange was to be debriefed by Darth Marr Vette was surprised by a eardrum-shattering scream. The crew rushed towards the source of the ruckus, only to find Solange in her quarters – her new baby-blue quarters with stuffed cute animals. Solange turned towards Vette, but the Twi'lek just shook her head and pointed at Jaesa who grinned broadly. "I win!" Explaimed the former Jedi.

"Oh, you will regret that!" yelled Solange, now positively laughing and threw a fluffy bunny at her apprentice who ducked skilfully.

Vette laughed also and decided to congratulate Jaesa on her completed challenge – perhaps a nice drink in the mess hall to celebrate? She went straight to the replicator to check wheter it had still alcoholic beverages stored when she heard how Quinn called out for her. She literally pranced to the Captain and saluted in a mocking way.

"Aye, aye, Capn't! What is it?"

Quinn sighted and simply gave her a small package.

"A gift? For me? Uh, I LOOOVVEEE GIFTS!" she said and unpacked the small parcel. It contained a small quadratic glass cube, in the middle was a little red leaf encased. She recognised it, it was the plant from Makeb.

"Thank you for everything, Vette," said Quinn in is usual rigid manner.

"Oh boy, you're not condoling me – at least try to be, uh, cheerful." She looked at the leaf, it was a rather ordinary one, but that was hardly the point. With a calmer voice Vette continued: "That's a nice gift, Quinn. Thanks."

The Captain nodded and returned to his duties. And for a short moment Vette regretted that she hadn't gone through with the challenge, perhaps a date would've been nice. She hesitated shortly and followed Quinn into the cockpit.

_The End_


End file.
